The Raiders were looking to get a bounce-back win after being blown out by Oakton College and they responded by defeating Lake Michigan College on the road. Freshman guard Tianna Daye led the charge for the Raiders in their 70-56 win.
It was a struggle in the first quarter for the Raiders as they shot 33% from the field, only scoring 18 points.
Despite that, they were able to keep it close with their rebounding and defense which allowed them second chances. The Raiders took nine more shots than Lake Michigan College and only allowed 20 points.
The second quarter was when the Raiders took over as they were firing on all cylinders and able to draw fouls and knock down their free throws to score 18 points in the quarter.
With their offense taking over, they used their defense to clamp down on Lake Michigan College forcing them to shoot 28% from the field, while also only allowing 10 points in the quarter to keep their lead going into the half, 36-30.
Both teams came out of the half with a vengeance as the Raiders had their most efficient quarter shooting 46%, while also knocking down three 3-pointers to score 21 points.
Lake Michigan College kept it close by scoring 17 points in the quarter, while shooting 100% from the free throw line.
In the final quarter, both teams struggled to score, but for the Raiders, their offensive rebounding led to more opportunities to score as they took six more field goal attempts, and that made all the difference as they scored 13 points to put the game out of reach for Lake Michigan College, 70-56.
Daye led the way for the Raiders with 24 points, seven rebounds and four 3-pointers.
Freshman guard Aaliyah Ratliff followed her with 18 points, eight rebounds, and also knocked down four 3-pointers.
GRCC’s head coach Dave Glazier said he was proud of his team for bouncing back after their previous loss.
“Tough to compare this week to last Friday,” Glazier said. “I am proud of the effort and attention to detail that we saw tonight. We got some big efforts from Tianna Daye, Aaliyah Ratliff, and Kaylie Van Der Hulst.”
The team will participate in the North Central Michigan College tournament as they take on Alpena Community College on Nov. 10 in Petoskey at 1 p.m.
